Ben Elton: 'The Queen is a sad little old lady'

Ben Elton, the comedian and writer, has launched a tirade against the Royal
Family, calling the Queen a "sad little old lady".

Ben Elton launched a tirade against the Queen on Australian television

7:00AM GMT 18 Nov 2009

The 50-year-old described the Duke of Edinburgh as a "mad old bigot who wishes it was still the war", and said the Prince of Wales was “a disillusioned ex-hippy".

He also referred to the Duke of York as "a bit of a yob" and suggested that the Earl of Wessex was homosexual, declaring that he “took it from behind".

Elton made the comments on an Australian television comedy quiz show called Good News Week – similar to Mock The Week in Britain – on Monday night.

The remarks come after the novelist, who announced last week that he is moving to Australia, recently criticised the BBC for failing to enforce proper guidelines against offensive language.

During a 90-minute appearance on the programme, Elton also claimed that he had slept with Baroness Thatcher, the former Prime Minister and made lewd jokes about the fictional children’s character Harry Potter.

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He announced that he was not being paid to appear on the show and that he had only agreed to go on to plug his new book Meltdown, about the global financial crisis.

Commenting on the recession, he added: “Still, it gave me a novel, so -------- to all the poor people. I’m quite pleased.”

Elton's remarks attracted criticism from viewers.

Hazel Spooner, who moved to Australia from East Finchley, North London, said she was left speechless by the outburst.

The married mother of four said: “He was like a spoilt child saying more and more outrageous things just for the attention.

“He obviously thought the best way to get the audience on side was to say degrading comments about Britain.

“But he sunk so low, it was just vile and crude. If that is what he thinks Australians want, he can stay in Britain, thank you very much.”

Elton made his remarks about the Royal Family when asked to play a word association game.

After being given the phrase "The Queen", Elton said: “She’s an ordinary woman.

"She’s a sad little old lady who lives in state sponsored accommodation, her husband is a mad old bigot who wishes it was still the war, three out of four of her kid’s marriages have failed – that’s very common.”

Referring to her children, he added: “The eldest one is a disillusioned ex-hippy, the middle one a bit of a yob, the youngest lad we used to think took it from behind.

"That’s a bog-standard British family in all its rainbow glory. If she had a black one and a disabled one, she’d have the full deck.

"She represents Britain more than any head of state represents their country.”

Elton disclosed last week that he is moving to Fremantle, near Perth in Western Australia, in December.

He is married to saxophonist Sophie Gare and, with whom he has three children; ten-year-old twins Bert and Lottie and their son Fred, eight.

However, on Tuesday he declared his "love and respect" for Britain and said his relocation to Australia was only "temporary".